


Sea Blue

by Psycheen



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, MerMay, MerMay2018, Original Art, Original Fiction, Other, mermaid, merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-07 23:02:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14681280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psycheen/pseuds/Psycheen
Summary: Orginally written for MerMay 2017 and revised for MerMay 2018.Arel Altea is the Crown Prince of the planet Fararren, a world inhabited by what we would call merpeople. After a falling out with his father the High King, Arel flees to Earth where he meets a young man with whom he finds solace, if only temporarily, from his responsibilities.This will be a two chapter short story with accompanying art work done for MerMay. Not beta read or fully edited.Made for fun, mostly exposition, at least in the first chapter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how to get AO3 to have indents at the begining of paragraphs or make the line spaceing 1.5 so that it's more readable... I suppose I should figure that out eventually...
> 
> I hate having to guess at how to pronounce names so i'm not about to make anyone else:  
> Arel Altea: eh-rail all tea ah  
> Krin is pretty much how it looks I think.  
> Dradamon: drad(like drat with a d) uh mon  
> Erista: air ist uh
> 
> I think that's all the names in this part. The story has a brief but explicit sex scene but the images contain no NSFW content.

Arel Altea was having a bad day. The worst day, in fact. The High King of Farrar, Arel’s father, had been in a secret meeting all morning. Normally Arel couldn’t care less about matters of state despite being the heir apparent for the entire planet, surface dwellers and underwater people alike, but today was different. The meeting had been about Arel and the poor young woman he was supposed to marry. She was lovely and kind and had status and was completely and utterly unappealing. Nothing about Erista was bad exactly. It was just that Arel, personally, didn’t care for her. She was a perfect little princess, prim and proper and polished. Arel’s brother Krin would undoubtedly adore her.

Unfortunately Krin was not betrothed to her. Arel was. After his father had spoken with Erista’s and made the arrangements, without input from their children mind, the king, Dradamon, had made the pronouncement in front of the entire court. Arel was furious. It was one thing to make life decisions for the children without consultation, it was another entirely to tell said children at the same time as it’s announced to hundreds of total strangers! As soon as they had been away from the courtiers Arel had started screaming. Never one to be outdone, even by his young son’s temper, High King Dradamon had screamed in kind. Only the good queen’s interference had mitigated the fury of the king before things got out of hand. Of course, that’s when things got really bad. Arel had been grounded.

Arel had not been grounded for decades. What kind of buffoonery? Arel had floated there, in his father’s anteroom, surrounded by unimaginable finery and riches and for the first time in his life he wanted none of it. Several moments went by and Arel just stared at his father in utter disbelief. Then he simply turned and calmly swam away. He calmly swam straight out of the castle. Calmly swam to the nearby caves where he had played as a child. Calmly swam to the portal. And calmly swam through it.

The cold of the Atlantic ocean had always shocked Arel at first, but he was quick to adjust. According to Laura, the sea witch who had come to Farrar through one of the portals scattered all over the planet connecting them with Earth, this world, inhabited by humans like herself, had warm oceans as well. Perhaps he could make his way to one of those. Plenty of Farraren lived in the Earths massive oceans, surely some of them would give him sanctuary.

Arel drifted with the current, mind lost in plans to hide amongst his distant cousins on this strange world. Not knowing how to contact others of his kind might prove difficult but there had to be a way. Perhaps he could simply find another portal, that would be easier as he could sense them when near enough, and return to Farrar long enough to find out how to contact someone here on Earth.

Thunder pulled the youth from his idle musings. A storm formed overhead, clouds black and heavy. More unusual noises caught Arel’s attention and he noticed the fishing boat for the first time. It wasn’t large but it was close. Arel’s curiosity got the better of him and he swam close to the boat. Too close he found out soon enough as his water adjusted eyes neglected to alert him to the net closing fast around him and his distraction kept him from noticing the distressed sounds of the fish caught within it. Fear gripped him in cold claws as Arel realized he was unable to get free in time and the net was lifted into the air and lowered toward the deck of the boat.

Fish flopping all around him, Arel managed to push himself into a sitting position, feeling decidedly out of his depth. All noise on the boat had stopped the moment Arel had rolled down the pile of fish and once he sat up he saw maybe ten men in bright orange clothes staring at him. He stared back. Laura had said many times that one could never know how something like a Farraren would be received. Perhaps these men would be superstitious and would not harm him but perhaps they would be greedy and would try to sell him or make him take them to some imagined treasure. Arel didn’t know but he was wary enough to pull himself slowly toward the railing of the ship.

One of the men, maybe the captain, moved slowly toward Arel with his hands out to show he had nothing in them. Arel almost let him approach but movement in his peripheral startled him and he pushed himself over the edge with one great shove. The men left aboard began yelling at each other and some looked over the side but Arel had dropped fast and deep. After that he made sure to be alert for nets but, never being one to leave well enough alone, he stayed close to watch as the fishermen rushed about the deck. They pulled several more nets of fish in as the rain began to pour and the wind began to howl. Soon the little boat was being tossed about on great swells.

It was as one of these massive waves crested, washing across the tiny boat, that a man was tipped into the sea. Arel saw and was at the side of the poor fellow only seconds after he was swept overboard. Despite his father’s many faults one thing the man had always done was teach his children the importance of life. This human would drown if Arel left him there, alone, his friends on the boat unable to do anything for him in this storm.

Arel approached the flailing man with caution, not wanting to get hit in his mad grab for a surface he couldn’t locate. As close to the surface as they were, even in the dark of the storm, the man could see Arel swim up to him and ceased his struggling. Arel studied the man for a moment. Dark hair and dark eyes were set in pale skin, pinked by this world’s yellow sun. He looked much like the people from the far north of Arel’s own home. Bubbles gathered along his skin in the many small dark hairs that sprinkled his fine features. Arel could tell he was youngish in human terms. So different from Laura who was dark of skin and had coarse hair and wizened features.

A burst of bubbles from the man’s wide nostrils jolted Arel back to the task at hand. Moving in close, Arel reached toward the man with slow movements, taking care not to startle him. The man watched with inquisitive eyes as Arel placed long webbed fingers on his jaw and leaned in. Only breaking eye contact when they were too close to see anyway, Arel pressed his cool lips to the human’s much warmer ones. When the man didn’t pull away Arel opened his mouth, prodding the human until he did the same and sealing their lips together.

The man pressed forward and wrapped his own large warm hands around the back of Arel’s neck and the young Farraren realized the human thought he was kissing him. With a slight smile at the utter ridiculousness of a drowning man trying to make out with him, Arel pushed a breath of oxygen into the man’s mouth. The man jerked away sputtering momentarily before blinking at Arel and giving a wide grin. He moved back in and pressed his lips back to Arel’s allowing the prince to breathe for him. Arel wrapped long slender arms around the slightly stockier man’s chest and held him close as he slowly moved them in the general direction that the fishing boat had been going.

After about an hour by Arel’s calculation the storm began to die down. Arel, beginning to tire from sharing so much air, moved them to the surface. Both men gasped as they got the first full breath of air for some time. The human pulled his hands away from Arel’s scale dappled skin and Arel looked away, nervous fear urging him to swim away as fast as his tail could propel him, but he couldn’t leave the man floating in the middle of the ocean, not after going through all the trouble to save him. With a deep, steadying, breath he looked at the man once more. The man was staring at Arel’s lips, long wrinkly pale fingers covering his own reddened lips. Arel smiled a bit and the man startled and met his gaze. He seemed unable to decide which to stare at, Arel’s lips or his eyes. Finally Arel took pity on him and kissed him again. A real kiss. When the man slid his tongue into Arel’s mouth the Farraren pulled back. He grabbed the man’s hand and sucked a finger into his mouth making sure the pad of it lightly touched the small but very sharp teeth. The man gasped but didn’t pull away and Arel popped his finger out and returned to kissing him.

Forewarned about his teeth, the man carefully explored Arel’s mouth with his tongue. Arel enjoyed the kiss more than he felt he should. He decided that if the man hadn’t been scared away by that point he might be willing to share more. Arel slid his hands down to the man’s hips and held them still while he pushed his own pelvis against him. The man was hard, despite the water’s cool temperature, and he groaned into Arel's mouth. Arel pulled back and tugged on the mans fishing overalls. He chuckled.

“Hold on, hold on.”

He pulled his arms out of the holes and slid the garment down to catch on his boots under the surface. Arel poked the man’s belt buckle and frowned up at him. Farraren have very different fashions, even those who prefer a mostly surface life don’t like to restrict their legs. Arel had only anecdotal understanding of pants. He smiled wide when the man took the hint and began undoing his pants. The offending cloth, along with a third layer, underwear, Arel thinks, pooled at his feet with the overalls. Arel steadied himself on the mans shoulders and slipped his tail through the triangular gap.

He shook the drying strands of hair out of his eyes and looked up at the man whose face had gone red, his jaw loose and pupils blown. Arel trailed his hand down to grip the man’s erection. He moaned and dropped his forehead to Arel’s shoulder. With a hand pushing gently on his back, Arel stroked him slid the man’s length past the hymeneal folds of his ventral slit. The human groaned again and gently began to rock his hips. Arel gasped at the sensation, different from mating with other male Farraren, but not overly so. When Arel’s own erection pushes free of it’s sheath and rubbed against the other man’s abdomen he gasped and pulled back, but didn’t pull away. He looked down into the water but it was too choppy and murky for him to really see anything. Arel slipped free and leaned back to float at the surface.

The human reached out but didn’t quiet touch and Arel arched so that his hand brushed against Arel’s erection. They both gasped at the contact and the man turned lust filled eyes back to Arel. The Farraren dropped back into place between the human’s legs and sealed their lips together once again. After that things became a bit frantic. Arel knew that mating with a human was a bad idea but after what his father did that day he couldn’t be bothered to care about the consequences. In fact he welcomed them. If he were to be with child, by their laws, his father couldn’t force him to marry. And with a human father so far away and all but unreachable the king wouldn’t be able to intimidate the man into abdicating any claim on Arel or a child. The way Arel saw it it was a win win situation.

He felt the man tense and the sudden warmth of his release flooding Arel was the final push for Arel’s own climax. They floated breathing heavily for some time. When Arel noticed the man’s teeth chattering he sighed, slipped his tail free and helped the man tug his pants back up. Fully dressed once more the man turned sad eyes to Arel.

“I dunno why you bothered getting me dressed again, I have no idea where we are or how to get home.”

Arel smiled and turned, he reached back and grabbed the man’s arms, looping them around his shoulders. He positioned them with care to avoid the slits just above his collar bone that allow water to flow into his body to be pushed out through his gills. Once the man was settled Arel leaned forward a bit to swim in the direction he knew the boat had been heading. It couldn’t have gotten far enough off course in the hour or so after the man fell overboard that Arel wouldn’t be able to feel the vibrations if he concentrated. It only took about half an hour for Arel to locate the boat and get the man close enough to be heard.

He stayed until the men on board threw a life preserver and helped the man to adjust it. The men on board watched in fascination as Arel gave the man a quick kiss on his cheek and darted into the water. He knew he’d likely never see the man again and while his heart didn’t exactly break he felt all the loneliness of being a prince weigh on him once more.

Reality intruded and the foolishness of his actions appalled Arel. Running away like a child was irresponsible at best and dangerous. He’d been gone for a long time and he knew he couldn’t avoid his fate for ever so he made his way to the nearest portal like a sea turtle homing in on the beach of it’s birth.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has only one character with a particularly unusual name:
> 
> Kerrian: pronounced care e n, care for short (Ker)
> 
>  
> 
> The picture one this is of Derek and Arel in his land form but not necessarily from this scene.
> 
> There is a lot of world building and character backstory/info that really didn't fit in this little short but it exists and might end up in some future story... maybe...

Derek Clarke was having a bad day. His new editor was on him about the sequel, his latest fling dumped him because he was ‘emotionally unavailable’ whatever that means, and, worst of all, he had been sick since breakfast. So when his sister called asking him to pick up his nieces and nephews from school he was less than enthusiastic. He loved the kids, sure, but he felt like a garbage fire that had been extinguished with sewer water. To top it off, he needed to be there in twenty minutes.

 

“Well considering I need to be in surgery in ten minutes and I don’t know how long it’s going to take, I’d rather you be a little late than the alternative.”

 

So here he was, rushing out his door ten minutes after he should have been, hoping the kids didn’t get into any trouble before he could get there. Sometimes he hated his sister’s job, sometime he hated his brother-in-law’s job. If James had been stateside he could have picked up the kids. But he felt the need to ‘serve his country’. Derek hated that phrase. It was more like ‘serve the elite rich cooperations that could afford to buy the government’ but no one would listen to him. Another thing he hated.

 

Derek was full of hate today it seemed. He pulled up to the school and sighed with relief. The kids were right where they were supposed to be if their ride was late, sitting around the picnic table with a few other children. Kerrian noticed him first and came rushing over with a smaller boy drug along by the hand. At five Kerrian was the youngest of his sister’s kids and probably the smartest. He took after his mom in personality and his father in looks, a bright bubbly boy he was tall for his age and looked like a tiny Apollo, sun kissed skin and blond hair with deep blue eyes. The boy he tugged along was his opposite in both personality and looks. He was small and dark haired with eyes nearly black and pale skin. He looked a lot like Derek as a child. The boy was quiet and calm watching with great intelligence behind his dark eyes. Kerrian stopped just shy of crashing into Derek’s legs babbling a mile a minute through a gap toothed smile.

 

“Wait, wait, slow down Ker, what are you talking about.” The way the little boy rolled his eyes was pure Clarke.

 

“I said. This is Ras, he’s my boyfriend!” the five year old jumped up and down in place, never letting go of ‘Ras’s’ hand.

 

“Okay. I’m gonna leave that one for your mom to deal with. Hello Raz.”

 

“No, uncle Derek, Ras, like rascal.”

 

“Ah. I see. Well hello anyway.”

 

He tried a smile at the little boy. Ras looked up at him and nodded. Kerrian smiled, “he doesn’t talk much but we both like cool stuff like unicorns and, oh yeah, show him Ras!”

 

The boy looked at Kerrian for a moment then at the hand still clutched by the larger boy. Kerrian followed his gaze and laughed as he let go so that Ras could take off his back pack and dig something out of it. He handed a folded paper to Derek. Derek opened it and his mouth went dry. It was a printout of the painting he’d had made for the cover of his novel. The artist had been a friend and confidant. He’d understood how much the painting had meant to Derek. It was a beautiful rendition of the mermaid that has saved his life just before Kerrian had been born.

 

He’d been on a fishing boat to research the culture for his book when a storm had hit. They had found it in one of the nets and it had flung itself back into the sea when one of the men startled it. Derek Had thought that was the last he’d see of it but he’d been thrown over board less than half an hour later. The mermaid had swam up to him and given him air until the storm died down. They had made love afterward. Derek was never sure why. Thinking back it seemed a really awful idea. What if the mermaid had been a black widow sort, or if there were some kind of disease that could be passed between them? But at the time, holding the soft cool creature against him he hadn’t cared. He fought back the myriad emotions the image tried to bring forth.

 

“That’s my painting.” He all but whispered.

 

“No. It’s my dad’s.” Ras told him in voice with a strange accent.

 

“What do you mean?” Derek looked at the child. The painting was in storage, after his breakdown Derek couldn’t bare to look at it everyday.

 

“I mean that’s my dad, so it belongs to him.” The boy pointed to the paper in Derek’s hand. Derek’s brows drew down. There hadn’t been a model for the painting, Derek’s friend was a police sketch artist by trade and he had taken Derek’s description and come up with a nearly perfect likeness. Maybe the mermaid just looked like the boy’s father. But it was hard to tell from the image on the paper, it was too small to see the face well.

 

Derek decided not to worry about it. He folded the paper back up and gave it back. “Where did you find that?”

 

“My dad did. He was looking for Father and he thought this might help but he said it didn’t.” The boy looked so forlorn that Derek had to fight the urge to hug some stranger’s child. That could lead to a whole other set of problems.

 

A car door closed nearby and a lilting voice called out for Ras. The little boy turned and his whole face lit up with joy. “Dad!” he took off running. In seconds he was enveloped in the arms of a stunningly gorgeous man.

 

Tall and lean, the man’s hair, which was loose and hung past his knees, was every shade of red and his skin was the softest brown, the color of a dark fawn. Derek swallowed. He’d developed a ‘thing’ for red hair after his boat trip. Kerrian ran over to be introduced and the man looked up to greet Derek’s nephew and Derek’s heart stopped.

 

For several seconds he couldn’t do anything but stare, dumbstruck, at the man who had saved him. The man who should be a pale gray green with fins of red that rivaled his hair for vibrancy. Derek could have believed it was just a fluke, seeing things that he wanted even if they weren’t real, but those eyes. So bright a purple they were nearly fuchsia. That wasn’t his imagination tweaking a detail to fit.

 

Jordy slapped him hard on the back, breaking his focus and startling him. “Dude, the guy is hot, you should go talk to him uncle D.” Derek could only stare at Jordy, uncertain if the sixteen year old was messing with him or really encouraging him.

 

“Uncle Derek! Come meet Ras’s dad!” Kerrin’s call took any choice from Derek and he turned.

 

The man was still kneeling beside the boys looking up expectantly but when his eyes met Derek’s any possibility that this was a dream evaporated with the jolt of recognition Derek saw in them. The man stood and took a hesitant step forward. Derek swallowed hard and walked over to him. “Hi.” His voice broke. He cleared his throat, “hey.” Derek couldn’t look away from those mesmerizing eyes.

 

“Hello.” The man said in the same strange accent as his son.

 

Derek bit his lip. Why was this so hard. They had shared something far more complicated than a greeting last time they had met. “I’m Derek Clarke,” he stuck out his hand. The man stared at it for a moment then took a deep breath and grasped his hand.

 

“Don’t laugh.”

 

“What?”

 

“Just… Arel. My name is Arel Altea.”

 

“Arel Altea?”

 

“Yes.”

 

A mer-man? with long bright red hair named Arel. Derek bit his bottom lip. “It’s very nice to meet you.” Derk shook his hand and then, with much reluctance, released it.

 

Arel blushed. It was just as charming this time around. Then he started to giggle. Derek couldn’t help but join him. Jordy and his twin sisters Rose and Sasha came up to them. Jordy shook his head, “are you two OK cause, I’m pretty sure mom won’t let me drive even if you stroke out or something…” Arel’s mirth died out immediately.

 

He stepped away and scooped up Ras. “We should be going anyway. It was nice meeting you.” He turned away and headed for a sleek black impala parked a few feet away.

 

“Wait. Arel… I… can I get your number?” Arel turned and the sadness in his face stole Derek’s breath.

 

“I… I don’t know that that is a good idea.”

 

“Why not? I… I’ve missed you.” Arel studied him. Derek could feel him assessing every tiny detail. He suddenly wished he hadn’t been so hasty when he left the house. He probably looked as much like crap as he felt. Arel turned and sat Ras in a car seat in the back before looking into Derek’s eyes.

 

“Are you with anyone?” Derek shook his head. He barely had time to brace himself before his arms were full of the man. They kissed while the older kids whooped and many of the younger ones made gagging noises. Finally Arel pulled away.

 

“Ras is yours,” he whispered against Derek's lips.

 

He blinked for a moment and realized, “I think I kind of figured that out actually.” Arel smiled. He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket and handed Derek a card from it.

 

“I’ve got to get Ras home and I’m guessing you have to get them home so… call me later?” Derek took the proffered card and nodded.

 

“Gladly.” Arel smiled again. It was infectious and Derek found himself smiling back. Arel turned and buckled Ras in and then went around and hopped in the drivers seat. He rolled down the window and leaned over. Derek bent down to look at him.

 

“I put Ras to bed about eight. Call me after, we have a lot to talk about I think.” Derek nodded again and watched as Arel merged into traffic.

 

“Well. Apparently you aren’t totally hopeless. I never would have thought you could bag someone that hot.” Derek smacked Jordy in the arm.

 

“Don’t talk about him like that. Don’t talk about anyone like that. Get in the car.” He ushered the kids toward his sedan.

 

 


End file.
